Czech Republic

Czech Republic is
one of the most economically developed countries of Europe. In the year
1948, when the Communists came to power, they created a highly
centralized economic system in which almost every aspect of economic
planning and management came under the control of the central
government. This economic policy followed a tradition of trading that
took place only between the Communist countries. No doubt, following
this tradition had the country boasting of a high standard of living in
comparison to other European countries then, but in the long run it led
to an economic decline. As the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, the
subsequent government took reform measure to save the situation. The new
economic policy privatized most of the firms and business boomed in the
major cities of the country. So the declining economy soon began to
recover and in late 1994, inflation was about 10 percent, less than half
of what it was in 1991. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by
approximately 2 percent in 1994. Industrial production, which declined
sharply in 1990 and 1991, also grew in 1994. The country's foreign debt
has remained modest. By 2001 the GDP had reached $56.8 billion.